I was taking a hike the other morning. It was one of the first hikes I’ve taken since winter released her chilly and isolated grip. The sun was shining, the dappled light streaming down through the branches like sunshine glitter and the robin’s egg blue sky aglow with a promise of warmth. Welcome spring!

As I walked the trails at Peoria’s Forest Park Nature Center, I came upon a tree that had not made it through the icy grip of winter. I noticed that the root system was fairly shallow and thought back to the ice storm we had experienced in December. The tree had not been rooted strongly enough to weather the challenge of this particular winter. It toppled over.

The root system had been shallow. The foundation had not been strong. The journey of this tree was more broad than deep. And now here is yoga.

The breadth of yoga is vast. The methods many. This debate over the right and wrong is pointless – the truth is that there are many paths for many people. Your yoga doesn’t need to be the same as someone else’s. As we begin a yoga journey, exploration is required. How do you know where you want to root if you aren’t sure of into which landscape you wish to plant?

However, at some point the endless wandering does need to pause and plant. The exploring gives you a wide number of roots but the staying is where the depth is found. That’s not to say you can’t replant your tree of yoga, but consider that if you are seeking something specific, it may be hard to discover it if you keep skimming just the surface.

This analogy can be married to whole host
of yoga topics – what lineage is right for you? What pose do you want to achieve? Anatomy? Meditation? Breath work? Supernatural yoga powers?

The point is that if you don’t plant some firm roots for your goal to grow, at the first sign of a storm, the tree of your practice can be easily uprooted. This is where the practice of setting intention can be helpful. Be clear about what brought you to the mat and then revisit your intention every so often and fine tune it.

Choose your own adventure – study it well – do the practice and all is coming. You can weather any storm. You can root down to rise up. You can.

I’m going to guess that you pointed at your chest, more specifically, the heart center. Why didn’t you point to your brain?

You pointed to your heart because you are a being created in love, driven by heart, and haunted by a mind of incessant thinking. You are not your thoughts; you are not your brain. Who is the one watching you think? Who is the thinker and who is the witness?

Study of the Koshas in Yoga philosophy can give us a description of what we are doing through practice and where we are headed if we stick with it. Without actually practicing, it means squat. 99% practice.

I drew this in teacher training. My meditation man is winking at you.

This photo is a little misleading (I’m not the best artist) – we aren’t really sitting under a rainbow of layers, all the koshas (energetic layers) weave into one another like a great tapestry. However, breaking them out in this way gives you an idea of how we practice through the layers.

Annamaya Kosha

Physical Layer – Earthy, Matter

Literally translates to “Food Body.”

Penetrate and purify this layer or aspect of ourselves with physical practice like yoga poses, exercises, clean eating, relaxation, and sleep.

Pranamaya Kosha

Energetic Layer – Water, Fluidity

Prana means “life force,” so this layer is all about what moves in your body: blood, air, luymph, elimination systems.

Work with this layer through pranayama (breath control)

Manomaya Kosha

Mental Layer – Thinking Mind

Mind is manipulated by our thoughts which turn to words and then actions. We become an accumulation of everything that has come previously through our system and then react according to memory and habit.

Purify this layer with meditation especially on aspects such as compassion, selfless service, and forgiveness.

This layer causes us deep stress, anxiety. It is difficult to penetrate this layer without the foundations of asana and pranayama.

Vijnanamaya Kosha

Intellect and Discernment, Insight and Wisdom

This is deeper than just the conscious mind, this is latent, intuitive knowledge

This is not what you read in books or others ideas, it is what you experience and know through direct perception.

The difference between thinking and knowing is wisdom, vijnana.

Deep self-study and reflection on ancient scriptures and philosophy help tap into this layer.

Anandamaya Kosha

Bliss – Joy

There is a difference between pleasure and joy, pleasure arises from passing experiences and material objects, joy is a state of being, in which you can be joyful when something is difficult and not necessarily experience pleasure.

This is the heart center – the very place you pointed when I asked you to point to yourself.

All the yoga practices bring us to this place over time and consistent practice. It’s where we discover our personal truth and where we can hear our purpose most clearly.

Maybe this is a more accurate Kosha diagram – peeling back the layers until you get to your heart center – like an onion, you’ll probably cry as you peel.

Yoga is a never ending journey. Just when you think you’ve mastered something physically, you can come back and add on another layer of work in order to peel back another layer of illusion. Eventually you have revealed your true self. When you wonder just who you are, point to yourself to remember.

Kids like clapping. Or he could be a child politician, I mean really, most politicians are childish, right?

This is President Obama’s State of the Union, if it only applied to the Yoga World. Finally, a time to merge my love of political satire with my passion for yoga practice! Enjoy. (**Note – Obviously, some parts have been omitted – this thing is LONG!). Inspired by my son’s riot of clapping while watching the State of the Union (he’s four, so he probably just likes clapping).

As YOGIS, we don’t mind paying our fair share of studio fees, as long as everybody else does, too. But for far too long, celebrity yogis have rigged the pay structure. They’ve riddled it with giveaways the superrich don’t need, denying a break to the desperately poor yoga teachers who do. (I’m looking at you @aloyoga and @kinoyoga).

This year, we have an opportunity to change that. Let’s close loopholes so we stop rewarding the 1% YOGIS. Let’s use those giveaways to outfit our more humble brethren who can’t affort $80 yoga pants and luxury retreats. Let’s simplify the system . And let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to accumulate thousands of followers while our less flexible yogis receive minimal notice of their meditation efforts. It’s ok, we aren’t an ego based practice. We could use that attention to help more families pay for kid yoga classes and maybe help the homeless. We need a new ethical code that truly helps working YOGIS trying to get a leg up in the new economy, and we can achieve that together.

Of course, nothing helps YOGIS make ends meet like higher wages. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time. We still need to make sure employees get the overtime they’ve earned (who among us hasn’t poured out hours of effort for that 2 hour workshop?). And to everyone in this SATSANGwho still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, please stop complaining about the cost of your yoga class – those trainings are expensive!

But tonight, we turn the page. We can and should offer our military heros access to yoga classes. We have proven time and again that the method works to help our heros live with their trauma and start anew.

YOGIS, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to get that 500 hour yoga TT; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:

It’s TIME for a CHANGE ‘Merica! Yoga On (also you can actually buy this clock – LOL!)

The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the YOGA is strong. We carry a light in our hearts and a will to change the world into a more peaceful, more sustainable, more accepting place to thrive.

It’s now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come. Are we a group of ego driven yoga butts or are we a tribe of united yogis working towards a better Earth? A better NOW? A more accessible YOGA dream for EVERYONE – black, white, brown, abled, disabled, sick, tired, YOGA FOR ALL.

Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort? (No change here – YAY OBAMA)

Will we allow ourselves to be sorted into factions and turned against one another – or will we recapture the sense of common purpose that has always propelled YOGA forward? It doesn’t matter if you teach hot, gentle, restorative, alignment – we are one YOGA – there is a practice for everyone. You get a class and you get a class and you get a class (wait, how did Oprah get in this speech?)

At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would never make it in the real economy or were just living in a fantasy. Instead, we’ve seen the fastest economic growth in yoga in the last 20 years, our they say 20% of Americans do yoga – that’s not misguided, that’s progress!

So the verdict is clear. YOGA works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work, as long as EGOS don’t get in the way. We can’t slow down businesses or put our PRACTICEat risk with shoddy teachers and manipulative marketing.

In fact, at every moment of YOGIC change throughout our history, this PRACTICE has taken bold action to adapt to new circumstances, and to make sure everyone gets a fair shot. Using props like blocks, bolsters, straps, walls, or even each other as partners.

These ideas won’t make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That’s not the job of YOGA. To give working teachers a fair shot, we’ll still need more employers to see beyond next quarter’s earnings and recognize that investing in their TEACHERS is in their studio’s long-term interest.

Aligned Bones are Happy Bones which = DANCING Bones!

21st century YOGA will rely on science, technology, ANATOMY, research and development. I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of YOGA – one that delivers the right THERAPY at the right time. In some STUDENTS, this approach has reversed DIS-eases, once thought unstoppable.

Of course, if there’s one thing this new century has taught us, it’s that we cannot separate our work at home from challenges beyond our shores.

My first duty as a YOGI is to DO NO HARM (Ahimsa). In doing so, the question is not whether YOGA helps in the world, but how. When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads; when the first response to a challenge is to SIT AND BE SILENT – then we can avoid getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and MEDITATE UPON a broader strategy we need for a safer, more prosperous world. THAT IS HOW YOGA CHANGES THE WORLD.

That’s how YOGIS lead – not with bluster, but with persistent, steady resolve.

2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.

I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it. (Well this just applies to our yogic ways right – we have a duty to be stewards of the environment from the #1 ethic of NON-HARMING, Ahimsa).

There’s one last pillar to our leadership – and that’s the example of our values. THE YAMAS AND NIYAMAS.

Looking to the future instead of the past. Making sure we match our POTENTIAL with PRACTICE, and use SIDDISwisely. Building YOGA ALLIANCESto meet new challenges and opportunities. Leading – always – with the example of our values. That’s what makes us exceptional. That’s what keeps us strong. And that’s why we must keep striving to hold ourselves to the highest of standards – our own.

I know how tempting such cynicism may be. But I still think the cynics are wrong.
I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long. (Good one POTUS!)

So I know the good, and optimistic, and big-hearted generosity of the YOGA people who, every day, live the idea that we are our brother’s keeper, and our sister’s keeper. And I know they expect those of us who TEACH to set a better example.

A better YOGA is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears.

Fight With Peace and For Peace – The Yogi Way

A better YOGA is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues, and values, and principles, and facts, rather than “gotcha” moments, or trivial gaffes, or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people’s daily PRACTICE ON THE MAT OR OFF.

A better YOGA is one where we spend less time drowning in money for ads that pull us into THE GLITZ AND GLAMOUR of EGO, and spend more time lifting young people up, with a sense of purpose and possibility, and asking them to join in the great mission of SHARING YOGA.

If we’re going to have arguments, let’s have arguments – but let’s make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this PRACTICE.

I want our actions to tell every child, in every neighborhood: your life matters, and we are as committed to improving your life chances as we are for our own kids. (It’s all about 7 generations hence, that’s what Native Americans taught!).

My fellow YOGIS, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and PRACTICED OUR PROGRESS. We’ve laid a new foundation IN OUR FEET. A brighter future is ours to write. Let’s begin this new chapter – together – and let’s start the work right now.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless this YOGA PRACTICE we love.

Also – I’m not campaigning for YOGA – YOGA WON, FOREVER 5,000 YEARS.

But seriously – I love a great motivational speech. I know people roll their eyes at politics, argue over who is right and when, but waht happened to a country in which we respected the office, we listened to the IDEAS and the CHARACTER behind the President, rather than the partisan politics. I do know one thing – we should all be able to rally around the values of family, fellowship, and freedom without tearing down our leader. President Obama was right – he’s done campaigning and he won – TWICE. So let’s ride out this presidency with calm, cool, collected activism, because anyone can complain, it takes real American or Yoga spirit to actually get out there and make a change.

Thank you and Namaste to anyone reading this. I appreciate your time and your eyes. I give humble thanks to my teachers, who have taught me more than just poses, but to try to use my voice for a purpose, and thus, here on my blog, I practice lifting my voice – and for those that hear it, I am grateful for a space to share it.

There is a certain power in the chanting of Sanskrit. This is not the incantation of spells or any magic – it is simply the use of our human ability to create unique sounds by movement of our mouth, tongue, and throat in a special way (which is a VINYASA!). On the physical level, one can easily feel the vibrations of resonance through the body simply by putting the lips together and humming (do it now – no one is watching you).

This technique is called Bhramari Pranayama and is a valid practice all on its own. If you are in need of anger management, feeling frustrated, or suffering anxiety – this is a good and simple technique you can do anytime, anywhere with no contraindications.

Why even bother making sound at all?

How does a good beat and good hook catch you? It resonates in your body and you feel something, a connection, an emotion – sound is one method of taking us out of the swirling mind and into a clear, present moment.

Why the need for a Sanskrit chant or mantra when there is plenty of music to be found?

One reason would be that we have no associations with the Sanskrit language. None of our memories or human conditioning have happened in Sanskrit, we have no preconceived notion of what it means when we hear it. Sanskrit is a perfect blank slate for most people – we can learn it from our teachers and then it becomes associated with practice and a great tool for meditation. The meaning we infuse is one of practice, peace, and presence.

Sanskrit is also a vibratory language, it is closely aligned with primordial sounds and each letter produces a specific resonance within the body meant to vibrate in specific areas or energy lines (nadis). One could think of it as the Paleo diet of language.

This is also why it is important to learn the names of our asana and to hear it said in class, the names of the asanas carry the same energetic qualities as the poses themselves – layering on the proper name is important. Consider for a moment how you feel when not called your proper name – yoga tradition is similarly to be respected.

You don’t have to believe me, experience it. Try an Om, the most well-known of the mantras. It is pronounced A-U-M; the aaaaaaaaaaa resonates in the belly, the uuuuuuuuuuu vibrates into the chest, and the mmmmmmmmmm is felt in the head. Although there are many meanings attributed to Aum or Om, it’s ok to enjoy it as a feel good vibe and respect the simplicity.

Breath Mantra – So Hum

Another easy mantra with no religious connection would be So Hum. This is simply the sound of your breathing. Take a moment to listen to your breath.

On the inhale – can you hear the whisper of breath saying So? Can you hear Hum on the exhale? What is the purpose of chanting the breath? To further connect to your true self and to disconnect from your ceaseless and noisy mind. So Hum is an excellent way to develop a meditation practice.

This is How We Do It

In learning to chant or use vibration, it is taught that you say the chants out loud – this occupies the senses of hearing, feeling, and even tasting as the tongue is involved. We close our eyes and restrict the sense of sight. All brings us closer to the yogic state of sense withdrawl (Pratyahara) Knowing our brains to be poor multi-taskers, chanting aloud gives more opportunity to quite the mind. You will notice it is near impossible to chant and think at the same time.

The next stage would be whispering the chant very softly. You will notice that if you are not yet well-trained in meditation, it is easy for the brain to get louder than the whisper, hence why it is the second stage.

The final stage is silent repetition in the mind only and this is the most difficult. It can be easy to go on auto pilot and sink back to thinking mind. If this happens to you, go back to repetition out loud to reconnect with the meditation. The purpose is quieting the mind to reduce distracted thought and allow creative, expansive, clear thinking to arise so that we might know our own gifts and share them.

Mala Beads

Frequently you see the use of mala beads – this helps to count the repetition and becomes a sort of time-keeper for your practice. In general, there are 108 beads and you repeat your mantra 108 times. Look for me to post more on the significance of 108 and mala beads in the future. But for now, the use of the beads is another good way to occupy your mind from thinking and anxiety, the mala is a great meditation companion.

Personally, I enjoy using mantra and sound in my asana practice. It is an enhancement to your routine and produces a palpable energetic effect as it naturally regulates your breathing. Many traditions of yoga utilize a mantra during asana as a way to time the breath and track the sequence.

Practice

Now to bring it back to the simple breath chant – So Hum. Try this right now – using a mala or a timer (try 3-5 minutes), sit on the floor or your mat, cross legs or lotus, and focus on your breathing. Add the So and Hum out loud as you breathe. How do you feel? Share your experience in the comments.

Gratitude

With respect and recognition, I salute my teachers that have helped me on this path. For this love of mantra, I want to recognize teacher, Dr. Indu Arora, who illuminated aspects of this practice so I could understand and hope to share. Namaste to you readers, thank you for spending this precious time with these words that flow through me to you, for you.

There comes a point in your yoga practice when you have to stare at yourself and you might not like it. This is a dark little secret in yoga that some don’t care to discuss, with all the love and light and joy memes. Nowhere in the Yoga Sutras does it say that all of your life will be blissfully happy – that’s something the marketing gurus selling you a yoga butt invented.

It is OK if you feel rotten, depressed, angry, bored, indifferent, or some sense of negativity in your yoga at times. Read that again – IT IS OK to be upset. Yoga opens up things within us and what needs to be taught is that it is NORMAL to not be cloying sweet and happy all your yoga life – you have to process the negative to become more positive.

You have to get deep in that muck and then like the lotus, you will emerge happier, healthier, and open to life – but first comes the mud and sometimes it smells rotten.

This point in your life practice is lovingly referred to as, “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Basically, you have to get real about your problems. You have to face the reality of all the actions you’ve taken up to this point of practice, you get to take a very real look at your Karma and sometimes that is ugly, especially if you are a human that has made mistakes (all of us!).

You may go through a depression or an increase in anxiety – don’t worry about it (haha and roll eyes). This is actually a sign that you are clearing up. You can’t clean what you can’t see. Yoga shines the light in our darkest places; that can be very uncomfortable. Those memories you worked so hard to suppress, they bubble right up to the surface and you have to deal with that shit. And that’s why people sometimes quit on their yoga. This part can be more painful than falling on your head in crow pose.

It is at this point in your practice when you need to find yourself a highly experienced yoga teacher that is living this path, that has pushed past this very issue in their own psyche and body. This is not the time to focus on a yoga butt, but the time to enter into the deeper practices of Sense-Withdrawl (Pratyahara), One-pointed focus (Dharana), and Meditation (Dhyana).

A good teacher can lead you through this valley of dark and shadows in a safe way and illuminate the more important teachings of yoga for you. Seek out a teacher with years of experience and who still has a teacher of their own. Be picky, don’t get distracted by shiny pants and tiny tops with great abs – remember that The Buddha had a bellyand was never depicted with his foot behind his head – but rather in meditation and mudra. Sometimes your best teacher may not be a yoga-lebrity, especially when you enter the dark stages of your practice.

When people complain that they aren’t flexible enough or strong enough for yoga asana, consider that this is just a mental blockage – you do the asana to build the body strength and flexibility so that the mind becomes more pliable as well. Once you clear up the self-judgement, you start becoming a more compassionate, less judgemental person – that’s how you share your practice to make the world better.

It is true that the world has dark places – you cannot ignore the reality of death and destruction that permeate our planet, nor should you. But you can remember that out of darkness comes the light and they both exist together. G.O.D. – Generator, Organizer, Destroyer – rinse and repeat.

Ask yourself:

Have you been the person that says, “I can’t meditate, I can’t be still, I can’t get quiet.” – yeah, me too. That shit is hard. You have to literally stare yourself in the soul and get open to what comes up. But stay a while longer, Practice and All Is Coming.

Once upon a time we were told there are two things one never talks about for polite conversation: RELIGION and Politics. This practice leads one to wonder, if we can’t discuss it, how can we understand it? If we can’t understand it, how can we change it? If we can’t change it, how can it evolve? Enter Yoga.

As part of our 500-hour teacher training at Prairie Yoga, the group went on a field trip to the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, Illinois. Why did we do this? The tour guide explained it this way:

“I’m not here to convert you to Hinduism, I am here to educate you on what we practice. Comparative study of religion only helps one to better understand their own faith and own self. Religion is a tool towards God-realization, different people need different tools and so thank GOD that we have so many paths of understanding.” ~Sadasivan N~

This man offered up a message I wish we could all hear. We don’t have to be RIGHT – what would happen if we all just existed together in a kind of harmonious agreement to respect individuality and mind our own business? After all, the mentality of “I Am Right,” is so arrogant, if God exists, what must God think? The guide also mentioned this:

“I’ve never been dead, I’ve never met God, so I cannot tell you what you should or should not believe. The person who tries to tell you what you should believe is probably selling you something.”

Some people feel deeply uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of yoga and that’s OK – no yoga teacher should be asking or instructing people to change their faith – that is not the yoga teaching as laid out in the Yoga Sutras. In fact, yoga isn’t even about your teacher – it’s about what they may inspire within you to explore within yourself. YOU are your own best teacher. No sales pitch needed for that.

I can recall a moment from a teacher training with Shiva Rea in which she said this:

“The Yoga Teacher is like a river guide; pointing out what is nice to see, but the one being guided has the ability to look in another direction.”

Some may disagree and that’s OK too. Personal truth, personal experience, personal belief systems are PERSONAL – yoga offers contemplations to study your own self, your own beliefs so that you becomes more clear about your personal understanding of life.

As I continue to educate myself on Yoga, study my own life and my own beliefs, the resonance of my teachers is clearly influencing my teaching, but I add my own flavor because it is just my own perspective developed through practice and that is all we can share. No dogma allowed.

As you seek to study yoga, the depth of which you practice may change over time – there is no doubt that once we access that connection through the physical practice of Asana, we open a door and light comes in. That is what is scary to people, the fear that you may begin to doubt your own faith is real. But through doubt comes more study – through more study comes more understanding, with more understanding comes more compassion, with compassion we have less judgement, etc… and what you may experience is that through practice, your faith is strengthened or changed, but then again, no journey ever leaves you exactly the same. As Mahatma Ghandi reflects:

“There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything. It transcends the senses whilst everything around me is ever changing, there is a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and recreates.”

“Each of us shares a unity with Spirit and all life,and simultaneously each of us is an individual with free will.There is a duality to us as separate and as part of the whole.”~Jonathan Lockwood Huie~

Mudras as an overlooked aspect in modern yoga, especially in the West. They are not frivolous hand gestures or esoteric spiritual wish sign language. They are literal energetic connections between two points creating a circuit of energy. You don’t have to “believe,” in them – they are scientific, in the same way that you don’t “believe” in plugging in a light bulb, you know the plug goes into the socket and links the energy to create a circuit.

One aspect of my personal yoga practice as well as my teaching, is utilizing mudras. Just as I began with Sutra 1.1, I begin with the most basic of the mudras – Anjali Mudra. You have probably even done this mudra, but given it little thought. A simple joining of the hands together in what looks like a prayer – see below.

There are probably thousands of blogs and articles out there on this mudra, so I will share what was given to me as a personal teaching. Consider that the hands, held in this manner, look similar to a candle flame. In yoga philosophy and in many religions we are taught that there is a spark, a light, a oneness with Spirit/God/Creation inside us, we are a reflection of God’s image. To me, this is the light. When I hold my hands at my heart center, it is a prayer or an affirmation that I recognize a unifying spirit in all things.

In general, we open/close a class with Namaste. This Sanskrit word has many meanings, my personal favorite is:

The light in me sees and reflects the light in you.

There it is again – CANDLE FLAME!

And if you aren’t into God or Spirituality – think of it as a very basic anatomical reminder – lift your sternum. Stand taller, chest up, shoulders back.

Until next time, Namaste – lead with love, follow your passion, let your heart come before your head.